Equifax Identity Matching vs Open Client Registry (OpenCR)
Equifax Identity Matching
developer.equifax.comOpen Client Registry (OpenCR)
openclientregistry.orgSide by side
| Figure | Equifax Identity Matching | Open Client Registry (OpenCR) |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | — | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 0 |
| Spec score · Identity Resolution Software | 8.0 (#7) | 7.4 (#13) |
| Integrations | Batch services are supported through MFT integrations, and the listed cloud environments are Snowflake and Google Cloud Platform BigQuery. | The documentation describes FHIR R4, HAPI FHIR, OpenHIM, and OpenSearch or Elasticsearch as components or connections in an OpenCR deployment. |
| Intended users | Equifax identifies financial services, telecommunications, utilities, and other consumer service providers as suitable industries. | The project describes itself as a community project intended for others to adapt to their use cases. |
| Purpose | Identity Matching identifies and links customer information across disconnected data sources, including when names or addresses vary. | OpenCR links patient identities across information systems to support clinical safety, continuity of care, and accurate reporting. |
| Security | Equifax says Identity Matching data undergoes encryption and tokenization to support data privacy and compliance controls. | The documentation says the registry should communicate only with known, trusted clients using TLS certificates, and that standalone mode runs TLS by default and requires signed certificates. |
Plans
In their own words
Equifax Identity Matching
Equifax Identity Matching links customer information held in disconnected sources, including records where names or addresses differ. It assigns persistent consumer identifiers and can create consumer, household, and address keys, helping organizations form a single customer view. Equifax says it compares multiple datasets and data-element combinations, and can combine company records with consumer credit and specialty finance data. Matching and updates are described as cloud-based and near real time, with incremental key changes available through delta services. Delivery options include batch services, an online API, and cloud-native Keying as a Service in Snowflake or Google Cloud Platform BigQuery environments. Confidential Keying keeps raw personal information in a customer cloud environment. Data is encrypted and tokenized, usage is regulated by GLBA, and processes are regularly validated. OAuth 2.0 client credentials secure APIs; production access requires credentials and whitelisted IP addresses. Pricing is on request.
Open Client Registry (OpenCR)
Open Client Registry (OpenCR) links patient identities across information systems to support care coordination, continuity of care and reporting. It offers configurable matching using probabilistic and deterministic methods, and can assign or look up unique identifiers and accept FHIR messages from point-of-service systems such as labs and EMRs. Its interface lets users inspect records and break matches. A deployment uses the OpenCR Service and HAPI FHIR Server with OpenSearch or Elasticsearch; OpenHIM is optional. Transactions, including queries, are stored as audit events in HAPI FHIR and can be viewed in the UI. OpenCR is open source and is listed for API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web and Windows environments. It is not a shared health record and does not contain patient clinical data. The production installation guide expects Linux, command-line familiarity and Linux administration expertise; HAPI FHIR needs a production database backend such as PostgreSQL or MySQL. JWT and other user authentication solutions are not provided out of the box and can be added for a deployment. The project describes itself as a community project intended for adaptation to different use cases.